Uses
Super Wifi’s practical uses are still being tallied but there are already plenty ideas. There have already been numerous locations that have implemented the technology. Microsoft, for example, has already set up two towers using the spectrum that it says covers its entire 500-acre Redmond, Wash., campus. (Thousands of WiFi routers would be needed to cover the same area.)10 Google, already has a trial running in a Logan, Ohio hospital that's giving first responders and the hospital grounds alike super-speedy broadband. The technology has been used to bring broadband internet to a school in rural Claudeville, Virginia; Wilmington, NC uses white-space to send real-time feeds from traffic and security cameras. Plumas County, California obtains its data about the "smart grid" electricity infrastructure. Just this week in Houston, Texas resident Leticia Aguirre was one of the first people to receive Super Wifi because of a partnership between Rice University, which provided the technology, and Technology For All, a Houston nonprofit organization that provides free wireless Internet access to low-income households in a three-square-mile area in east Houston.14 Many other applications that have been suggested were an enhanced corporate campus, hospital, school, and in-home networking, similar to the current Wi-Fi systems, but with better building/wall penetration. Dell envisions white spaces networks that will be able to send streaming video and other multimedia content to electronic devices around the home, deliver broadband to rural areas that currently lack high-speed Internet access and create "large-scale hot spots." Jeff Evans, deputy director of the Georgia Tech Research Institute's telecommunications lab said five or so super-Wi-Fi hotspots might be able to provide internet service to a small downtown area. But it may be two or more years before such applications are available to consumers. It will take time for gadget and antenna makers to adjust to the new standards," he said.11 Genachowski, the FCC chairman, said super Wi-Fi may be rolled out more heavily in some areas than others. In dense cities where many groups are already using wireless signals for example, super Wi-Fi may not be as prominent as in rural areas.11 Benefits could include the ability to shift some data away from overloaded cellular data networks, and provide better Internet access in rural areas of the country. The new spectrum could be really great news for rural areas, though the characteristics of the new spectrum could make for some very smart uses as well.12 Security systems can protect entire corporate campuses wirelessly. RFID chips can identify your spoiling yogurt or the keys you think you lost. Cities might also be able to use the larger Wi-Fi networks to offer up public wireless internet hot spots and perform such tasks as remotely monitoring infrastructure and water quality. Fewer "dead zones" in Wi-Fi networks and the ability to transfer large files easily between machines and computers in hospitals, the FCC says. Medical, automation, and inventory applications become more practical. You can track your lost dog or your missing kid. Leading technology companies, including Google Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Dell Inc., are eager to develop the market. They say television white spaces are ideally suited for broadband because they are able to penetrate walls, have plenty of capacity, and can travel several miles. Just like the spectrum used by Wi-Fi, white spaces will be available to all users for free, with no license required. The FCC hopes they will help ease strain on the nation's increasingly crowded airwaves as more consumers go online using laptops and data-hungry smart phones.13